, is a Japanese manga series written by George Abe and illustrated by Masasumi Kakizaki. It was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Sunday from November 2002 to July 2008, when the magazine ceased publication; it was then transferred to Weekly Big Comic Spirits, where it ran from June 2009 to January 2010. Its chapters were collected in twenty-two tankōbon volumes. The story is set in the 1950s and focuses on six junior delinquents aged sixteen to seventeen that are sent to the Shōnan Special Reform School. They learn to cope with the atrocities and unfairness they encounter there. A twenty-six episode anime television series adaptation produced by Madhouse and directed by Hiroshi Kōjina was broadcast on Nippon TV from April to September 2010. As of March 2010, the manga had over 3.3 million copies in circulation. In 2006, the manga won the 51st Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category. Plot Set in the 1950s, the story centers around six junior delinquents and their mentor at the Shōnan Special Reformatory near Tokyo. The manga follows the boys' lives during their time in the school and the years after they leave, highlighting the struggles the lower class faced in post-war Japanese society. Characters Aged seventeen and nicknamed , he is the unofficial leader of the six new boys. He was sentenced after inflicting life-threatening injuries to one of his teachers when he discovered the man had just raped a female student. He tried to pick a fight with Sakuragi the first day they met but was knocked out easily. Mario came to admire Sakuragi and began to train to box under him and was shown to be quite skilled. He has demonstrated to be a very straight man, and will often take the blame or suffer injuries for the sake of others. After leaving the reformatory he works as a bartender, and is in love with Setsuko. He has black hair, making him resemble Sakuragi. He eventually become a boxer to honor Rokurouta's dream to become a world champion. Aged eighteen and nicknamed by his cellmates, he is the oldest of the seven protagonists in Rainbow. He was sentenced for inflicting bodily harm upon an American soldier. A strong and benevolent young man, Bro has great boxing technique which he demonstrated by knocking out all six newcomers when Mario started a fight. He constantly looks out for the